Looking for a victory

Late-game shooting struggles derailed Chadron State College’s momentum against Black Hills State University as the Yellow Jackets defeated the Eagles 70-60, Friday, in the Chicoine Center.

Saturday, the South Dakota School of Mines Hardrockers outscored CSC 42-21 in the first half, and went on to win 77-59.

The losses drop the Eagles to 3-12. 

CSC faces 5-10 University of Colorado-Colorado Springs, tomorrow and 11-4 Colorado School of Mines, Saturday, in the Chicoine Center.

The Orediggers bring the top-scoring offense in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, averaging 69 points-per-game and are led by Denali Pinto, sophomore of Boulder, Colorado. 

Pinto leads the conference with 392 points. 

CSC’s last victory came against UCCS two weeks ago when Foxen dropped 33 points en route to a 78-74 Eagle win.

“This week is about us as much as it is about the opponent,” Head Women’s Basketball Coach Janet Raymer said. “We aren’t far from where we need to be, regardless of what the scoring looks like. Our capabilities are high and it’s going to be a matter of us setting the tone early within ourselves and then keeping that mindset through four quarters.”

Friday, trailing by two to begin the fourth quarter, the Eagles field goal percentage dropped by nearly 25% as Black Hills outscored CSC 16-8 to close the game. 

Neither team outgained its opposition in rebounds, assists or turnovers by more than a margin of one, but Black Hills’ fourth quarter shooting percentage of 40% proved to be enough to close out the game.

“We went cold in the fourth period against BH and it had a lot to do with us lacking in offensive execution,” Raymer said. “We started taking a higher number of quick shots with less ball movement. In turn, we were taking lower percentage shots.”

Taryn Foxen, junior of Aurora, Colorado, led the Eagles with 27 points and added seven rebounds.

Saturday, the Eagles saw 12 of its 20 turnovers occur in the first half as the Hardrockers capitalized with eight points from those giveaways. 

Mines produced 14 steals compared to CSC’s three.

The Eagles’ offensive struggles on Friday seemed to carry over into Saturday, according to Raymer. A symptom of that was turnovers, she said. 

“We had some passing and dribbling turnovers from our decision making and they were actually pretty simple errors.”